PHOTOREFRACTIVE WAVE-GUIDES IN OXIDE CRYSTALS - FABRICATION, PROPERTIES, AND APPLICATIONS

In several oxide crystals the refractive index can be changed by inhom ogeneous illumination, and these photorefractive properties have allow ed for a wide variety of applications in optical data storage and dyna mic holography. The high light intensities that are inherent in wavegu ide geometries make it relatively easy to observe photorefractive effe cts in waveguide structures, too. On the one hand, these effects are f eared as optical damage, as they can degrade the performance of integr ated optical devices. On the other hand, optical wave mixing in photor efractive wave-guides is of considerable interest for the development of nonlinear optical components. A review of the results of recent res earch on the fabrication, investigation, and applications of photorefr active waveguides is given. The formation and photorefractive properti es of LiNbO3, LiTaO3, BaTiO3, KNbO3, SrxBa1-xNb2O6 (0.25 less than or equal to x less than or equal to 0.75, SBN), and Bi-12(Si, Ti, Ge)O-20 (BSO, BTO, EGO) waveguides are discussed. Furthermore, the suitabilit y of photorefractive waveguides for nonlinear optical components is de monstrated in some examples.